Jesus Wept

 Jesus wept (John 11:35). The shortest verse in the Bible. The profundity of its meaning seeps into my soul. Prior to crucifixion, Jesus was there for everyone who crossed His path or heard of Him. After His crucifixion and return, He is here for us all.  He healed the sick and gave sight to the blind.  He enabled the lame to walk and transitioned the deaf to hear.  He restored dignity and smooth skin to the lepers whereas beforehand everyone considered them repugnant. He showed love to adulterers and prostitutes. He reached out to the wealthy, the prideful, the materialistic and the politicians. He showed us that the poor were just as important as the rich, perhaps more so.  Yet, despite being there for everyone and despite healing and befriending thousands; who was there for him as he hung in pain, dripping of blood and dying on the cross? Who would take him down and save Him?  Only a trilogy of Marys and the disciple John remained with Him to the end.  The strongest chose themselves and in similar spirit, chose Barabbas instead of Christ.   Chose convenience and sin instead of inconvenience and repentance.  Thousands of people could have converged on the site, overpowered the guards, removed Him from the cross and repaired his wounds.  Yet, where was one person willing to inconvenience themselves just a little to give Him aid in His time of need?  Maybe they were cowards or perhaps disheartened, not understanding the profundity of why He had to hang there and die a physical death in the first place.  After all, surely God can save His own Son from death?  Surely the Son can save himself and not need help?  Is that not what a King does – save himself so that he may continue to save his people?  An all-powerful king saves who he saves and kills who he kills.  Yet Christ hung there.  When His body went limp with death, perhaps the memory of his miracles was forgotten even more.  God could have saved Jesus.  Jesus could have saved Jesus.  Assuredly, it wasn’t the people’s job to save Jesus.  He died and arose so that WE might be saved and arise.  He went through all of that knowing that we would leave him hanging so that He could be the empowered sacrificed Son that Isaac was not.  The strongest King does not need to save Himself because He conquers death.  Likewise, the weakest kings always die eventually.  Jesus became the last physically legitimate sacrifice for sin in the world.  He became the scapegoat that we cast our sins upon and He carries those sins away so that we might live. A humble donkey carried the King into Jerusalem for this ultimate and eternal sacrifice.  Christ, the humble yet great and powerful King, now carries the burdens and the weight of our heavy sins if we accept Him for His Word.  "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey."  (Zechariah 9:9).